Illinois Evidence and Business Records: Injured Worker’s Insurance Claim Properly Admitted At Trial

  The plaintiff filed a wrongful discharge suit against his employer when he was fired after he lodged a workers’ comp claim for a work-related injury.  A jury sided with the plaintiff and awarded him about $4.2M including some $3.6M in punitive damages. The employer appealed on the basis that the court allowed some damaging documents …

Craigslist Ad = Improper Hearsay Evidence at Bike Theft Trial

In re Jovan A, 2014 IL App (1st) 103835, poses the question of whether the content of a craiglist.org advertisement (the “craiglist Ad” or “Ad”) is admissible under the hearsay exception for showing what steps police took in the course of investigating a crime.  The First District answered “no”; it’s not admissible. The State charged the defendant with stealing …

Single-Page Spreadsheet Doesn’t Satisfy Business Records Rule (Illinois 2nd Dist.)

In In Re Estate of Good, 2013 IL App (2d) 120875-U,  the Second District strictly construed the business records hearsay exception and held that a single-page spreadsheet (the “Spreadsheet”), prepared specifically for litigation by one of the parties from various print and electronic sources, didn’t satisfy the business records admissibility rules. Facts: The plaintiff real estate auction company sued …